A Canadian faces execution in China!
It follows the arrest of a Chinese executive in Canada
And threats that China will take revenge
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
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Now, imagine being doing something so horrible,
so terribly bad that you somehow make Canada angry!
I know, that’s just aboot impossible.
But that’s what the Chinese Communist Party has managed to do.
So in case you’ve been living in a cave for the past month,
big news:
In December,
Canada arrested Chinese telecom giant Huawei’s CFO,
Meng Wanzhou.
That was at the request of the US.
Huawei is alleged to have used shell companies
to trick banks into violating US trade sanctions on Iran
and possibly Syria.
But the arrest of Huawei’s CFO
did not make the Chinese regime happy.
And my...maybe no longer favorite
Chinese state-run media the Global Times
said China would take revenge
if Canada doesn't free the Huawei CFO.
And let’s just say,
that turned out to be more than just an empty threat.
“Thirteen Canadians have been detained in China
since Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou
was arrested in Vancouver last month
on a U.S. extradition request.
That's according to a Canadian government statement
released Thursday.”
And this week,
Chinese authorities took it a step further.
“A court in China has ordered a retrial of a Canadian citizen
on drug smuggling charges.
Robert Lloyd Schellenberg had lodged an appeal
after being handed a 15 year sentence in November,
but prosecutors argued that sentence was too light.
The court agreed.”
Well, that appeal backfired.
So if a 15 year sentence was too light,
what was the court’s new sentence?
“A Chinese court has sentenced a Canadian man to death.”
Holy cow, that escalated quickly.
This is why I don’t plan on traveling to China anytime soon.
In fact, the US State department issued
a travel advisory to China at the start of the year
warning of arbitrary enforcement of laws.
China’s foreign ministry said that was ridiculous.
"I would like to point out here
that the competent Chinese authorities
have always impartially handle cases
that involve the tiny minority of foreign nationals
who were suspected of crime in China,
according to law.
The U.S. side's issuance of this travel advisory
frankly does not hold water."
Well, Canada has also decided that it does hold water.
Their own travel warning now says Canadian citizens
should exercise a high degree of caution if traveling to China.
China's sentencing of a Canadian national to death on Monday,
has drawn heavy criticism from Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blasted Beijing
for the conviction of Robert Lloyd Schellenberg on drug offenses.
It's dealt a further blow
to already icy relations between the two sides.
"I will say it is of extreme concern to us as a government
as it should be to all our international friends
and allies that China has chosen to begin to
arbitrarily apply death penalty in cases facing—
as in this case—
facing a Canadian."
And, you guessed it,
the Chinese regime was not happy of being
accused of arbitrary law enforcement.
“The remarks by the relevant Canadian person
lack the most basic awareness of the legal system.”
Wow, she didn’t even use his name.
Though that is the first time any Canadian official
has been called relevant.
China is known for handing out
harsh sentences to drug dealing,
even, yes, the death penalty.
In fact, over the past decade,
citizens of multiple countries
have been sentenced to death in China
for drug crimes.
Over 100 hundred just from Nigeria.
Then again, according to Amnesty International,
China is just the best at executions all around.
“China remains the world’s top executioner—
but the true extent of the use of the death penalty
in China is unknown
as this data is classified as a state secret.”
So China executes a lot of people.
And some of the are executed for drug offenses.
But it’s the timing of death penalty
given to Canadian Robert Schellenberg
that suggests there’s more to this story.
“Schellenberg was actually arrested back in December 2014
and it took almost 4 years for the Chinese court
to hand down his first conviction
as an accessory to drug smuggling
and a sentence of 15 years in prison.
But after he appealed that decision last November,
all of a sudden his case becomes fast tracked.”
Schellenberg appealed his case last November.
Then in December, the Huawei CFO was arrested.
And suddenly, prosecutors in China claimed
they found new evidence that Schellenberg
was not in fact just an accessory,
but a principal offender,
responsible for trying to smuggle
500 pounds of methamphetamines to Australia
in pellets stuffed inside tires.
Like I said, that escalated quickly.
According to a China law specialist
at George Washington University,
Donald C. Clark,
“We should draw the conclusion that
the Chinese government very obviously wants us to draw:
this is a political case.
Schellenberg’s fate will have nothing to do with
his individual guilt or innocence.”
And that’s the biggest challenge Canada
will have in trying to prevent Schellenberg’s execution—
the Chinese Communist Party fundamentally doesn’t do
“rule of law.”
They will use their legal system
to do what they want, politically.
Here’s the Foreign Ministry spokesperson responding to Trudeau
saying China is arbitrarily detaining people.
“We express our strong dissatisfaction towards this.
We urge the Canadian side to respect the rule of law,
respect China's legal sovereignty,
correct its mistakes and stop making irresponsible remarks.”
What the Party is trying to say is,
Canada respect China’s rule of law,
but should ignore its own rule of law by letting
Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou off the hook.
And then maybe fewer Canadians will be executed in China.
And under the Chinese Communist Party’s thinking,
that makes perfect sense.
The courts are ultimately another weapon of the Party.
I mean, how do you think Chinese courts
convict 99.9% of defendants?
So of course the Party thinks that Justin Trudeau
can just order the Canadian courts to release Meng Wanzhou.
But that’s not the way it works in countries
with actual rule of law and independent courts.
And that’s what is so confusing to the Chinese Communist Party.
They probably don’t want to actually risk
the fallout of executing Schellenberg.
But they don’t understand that Canadian courts
can’t just release someone
because it’s politically convenient.
So now the Party’s stuck—
it can’t back down.
And that’s why Schellenberg is in
such a dangerous predicament.
So what do you think about Schellenberg’s death sentence?
Leave your comments below.
And now, it’s time for me to answer a question
from a member of my 50-cent army,
a brave alliance of fans who support China Uncensored
on the crowd funding website Patreon.
William E William asks,
“What about South Korea?”
For context, that was in response to our recent episode
“How 8 Countries Are Handling Huawei.”
South Korea was not on the list,
but that’s a good question,
o I looked into it.
Turns out,
South Korea’s largest wireless operator,
SK Telecom
announced in September the companies
it would like to build its 5G network.
Huawei was not one of them.
But they may be standing alone.
Another South Korean company,
LG Uplus,
is expected to go with Huawei.
Currently, the South Korean government
has not banned Huawei,
but may be considering it.
Which is why Huawei has said
they’ll happily address any security concerns.
So, South Korea’s stance?
There may be concern about Huawei.
But there are no plans to block Huawei from government use,
or from their 5G network.
Thanks for your question!
Wasn’t that fun?
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Which I assume is most of the Internet.
So once again,
thanks for watching China Uncensored.
I’m your host Chris Chappell,
see you next time.